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I take a hesitant step toward him.

“Closer,” he insists.

Oh Goddess, am I really going to let a sorcerer rifle through my head? I didn’t think this plan out fully.

I step into his space, trying to banish my nerves. “Is there anything you need?”

Memnon places his hands on either side of my head, and I jolt a little at the touch. “Just you.”

That odd humming noise between us grows louder, and my breath comes in shallow pants. It could also be his words. Everything he says sounds like a double entendre.

I don’t mean to glance up and meet the sorcerer’s stare head-on, but this close to him, with his hands tilting my face up to his, there’s nowhere else to look.

His whiskey-brown eyes are tender, affectionate. My heart skips a beat at the sight.

I have been inside you more times than there are stars to count.

Heat rises to my cheeks, and I force away the memory.

Memnon gives me a shadow of a smile. An instant later, however, it’s gone. “Close your eyes,” he commands.

I stare at him for a moment longer, feeling small and vulnerable with his hands cupping my face, the wall of his body looming over me, and his face so close.

Drawing a fortifying breath, I let my eyelids flutter shut.

Memnon’s thumbs stroke my cheeks in silent approval. “Now repeat after me:Ziwatunutapsa vak mi’tavkasavak ozkos izakgap.”

I bare my memories for you to see.

The words come easily to me, the sounds of this ancient language both harsh and lilting.

He continues.“Pes danvup kuppu sutvusa vak danus dukup mi’tupusa. Pes vakvu i’wpatkapsasava kusasuwasa dulipazan detupusa.”

All that I know, I share with you. I willingly give you the truth of my past.

I sense his magic rise, and as soon as I finish speaking, it rushes into me.

Reflexively, I grab Memnon’s wrists, ready to jerk his hands away at the first brush of his power in my head, but the sorcerer holds me fast.

Memory after memory flitters by so swiftly, I can hardly make sense of any of them, only that each one is touched by the sharp caress of Memnon’s power. On and on it goes, and it could be seconds, or it could be hours. I feel like I’m being turned inside out, like every dirty little truth has been inspected and—

With a curse, Memnon’s hands leave me. He stumbles back, breathing heavily, and when he takes me in, his eyes are haunted.

He searches my face, as though it will give him the answers he’s looking for. “How…?”

“Do you believe me now?”

He’s still searching my face, and while he does so, I allow myself to study his. I’m mesmerized by the black hair that curls at his nape, his pronounced cheekbones, those multifaceted eyes and sensuous lips.

“You’re right,Selene.”

I almost close my eyes when I hear him say my name. This is a small victory, butI’ll take it. And I can’t help but notice how intimate he makes my name sound. As though he knows things about me that no one else does—which, now that he’s rifled through my mind, is technically true.

“You remember nothing,” he continues. “Your memory itself…” Memnon frowns, a crease forming between his brows.

“My magic feeds off my memories,” I explain. “So there are lots of holes in it.”

He studies me. “I don’t understand our situation,” he says slowly. “Not yet at least. But neither, it appears, do you.” Memnon grimaces to himself. “So, for now, I’ll accept this horrible simulacrum of reality.”